


Blueberries

by pinabutterandjam



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura Keith and Lance are college besties, Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, Keith grew up in the city as an artist working the family buisness, Lance grew up on a farm & his neighbors/ childhood friends are Hunk and Pidge (and Matt), M/M, Trans Girl Pidge, nb Hunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-04-26 02:31:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14392365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinabutterandjam/pseuds/pinabutterandjam
Summary: Lance takes his first year away from home to study astrophysics in college, and meets a cute, talented student in one of his elective courses. After pining for months, he finally builds the courage to talk to him.





	1. Planting the Seeds

Lance cracked open the lid of his tuppleware, and inhaled the fresh scent. “Ah, nothing like home-grown blueberries.” His fingers picked up a few plump, and still slightly wet blueberries, and plopped them into his mouth. He sloppily placed the lid back on the container, and threw himself back onto his bed. “Thanks Hunk, I’ve been feeling a bit homesick.”

Hunk sat on the bed beside him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I figured. The weekend you spent at your cousin’s house had you cuddling with me for a week afterwards.”

“Speaking of which,” he laid down on his side, and tapped the space behind him. “I need some good ol Hunk hugs.”

Hunk rolled their eyes, but smiled. “You use me,” they said while sliding down, and wrapping an arm around Lance’s tiny frame.

Lance put his arm on top of Hunk’s, and let out a sigh. “I missed you buddy.”

“I missed you too.”

The two stayed silent for a while, long enough for Lance to begin to doze off, until Hunk whispered suggestively, “So, tell me about the boy you like.”

Lance shot up immediately, red in the face and fumbling over his words. “I- I don’t like him, I just- you know he- shut up Hunk!”

Hunk let out a laugh, and sat up too. “Hey, I’m just going off of what you told me.” Lance pouted, cheeks still burning. “So tell me about him. All I know is he’s a, and I quote, ‘distractingly beautiful boy’ in your sculpting class.”

“Well, we’ve uh, made some progress.”

 

_Two Weeks Earlier_

 

Lance was choking down a sandwich while speed walking to his next class. Not that he was running late or anything, the professor wouldn’t be there for another 15 minutes.

He stopped in front of the classroom door, and composed himself quickly by flattening out his shirt and running a hand through his hair. When he pushed open the door, his eyes immediately searched for the cute boy, who against all odds, made a mullet work. And as always, there he was, but this time painting the intricately detailed vase in his hands instead of sculpting it. He used shimmering paints to coat the engraved bird and flowers, which made the vase look like it was made from abalone shells and not ceramic.

“Finishing up your assignment?”

Keith looked up, seemingly surprised that Lance was talking to him. Which was fair. They’ve been in this class for nearly two months, and Lance hadn’t worked up the courage to actually talk to him until today. “Uh, yeah. I didn’t have time to paint it this week.”

Lance hummed a response while he busied himself by pulling out his own vase from the shelf against the far wall; plainly sculpted and smooth, glazed over with a shiny, deep gold base, and dotted with a softer gold that clustered at the bottom. “I can see why. The detail in that thing is incredible.”

Keith rubbed his neck with the hand holding his wet paint brush. “Oh, uh thanks.”

The two fell into silence again, where Keith resumed painting his vase (after he tried wiping out the paint in his hair with a paper towel), while Lance pulled out his sketchbook and started a rough draft of his next project.

“I like yours,” Keith said, gaze still focused on his own work. Lance stared at him. “Your vase. It’s nice.”

“Thanks bud! That means a lot coming from the best sculptor in the class. Actually, the school. Maybe the whole state.”

Keith giggled. “I’m not that good. I wish I was though.”

“I’m being serious! That bust you did last month was beautiful. You can bury it in Florence, and claim it to be a masterpiece from Michaelangelo himself, and it would be totally believable until the scientists examine and date it.” Lance gasped. “You can pull a Michaelangelo on Michaelangelo.”

Keith giggled again. “You’re funny.” And at that, Lance beamed.

Lance opened his mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a group of people flooding in and someone shouting, “Who the fuck else finished at 2am?!”

 

-

 

“And we’ve been chatting before class since then, sometimes even after class, if Professor Coran isn’t praising him like a god.”

Hunk squeezed Lance into a side hug. “I’m so proud of you for building up the courage to talk to him.”

“There’s more. Okay, you remember my friend Allura?”

Hunk lightened their grip, while Lance grabbed the container of blueberries and shoved a handful in. “The one you flirted with for your entire first month?”

“Yes, her,” Lance said with his mouthful, before swallowing and continuing with, “So she knows I’m serious about love, and said she found someone 'perfect' for me.”

 

_Two Days Prior_

 

Allura approached the table with two almond lattes in her hands, and a big smile on her face. From the corner of his eye, Lance could see the barista behind the counter stretching their head out and staring. With an exaggerated exhale that caused their whole body to sag, they went back to work.

“As I was saying,” Allura started. “Lance, he is perfect for you. Well, actually, more like you’re perfect for him. He’s kinda, er, independent, but he’s a complete sap under his broody exterior. You two would be disgustingly cute together.” She took a long sip of her drink, and let out a satisfied sigh.

“Broody?”

“He’s always been shy. A little… reluctant to make new friends, but you’re so friendly and easy to get along with.”

“So he’s reluctant to make friends, but wants to go on dates? I’m not really looking for a hookup Allura…”

Allura waved her hands in protest so fast she spilled some of her coffee. “No no! He’s not like that! Look, I’m going to be honest with you,” she leaned in, as if to tell a secret. Instinctively, Lance leaned in too. “He’s like a brother to me. His family and I want him to make friends in college, he’s always been so focused on his work.” She leaned back, and sighed as she took another sip. “It’s one date. If you want to leave after 5 minutes, you can. But he’s super cute, and accomplished, so I’m sure you won’t.”

And _fuck_ , was she right.

That night, Lance entered the restaurant she chose at 6p.m. sharp, and was guided to the reserved table. The cute boy with the mullet was leaning his cheek on his hand while fiddling with the menu in front of him. Lance wasn’t even aware that he had stopped a short distance from the table until mullet boy’s dark eyes trailed from Lance’s shoes to his face.

“Oh, so you’re Allura’s friend,” he said calmly. A complete contrast to the voice in his head screaming ‘It’s him!’

-

Hunk squealed, “You went on a date with him!”

“It wasn’t a real date! Just let me tell the story!”

-

Lance laughed nervously as slid into his seat across from Keith. Thankfully, the only decent source of lighting came from the candle on the table, so it probably hid his blush. “Yeah. We never got to talking about friends, huh?”

Keith let out a puff of a laugh, “We haven’t even exchanged names.”

 _Right_.

“My name’s Lance, like romance,” he said, really rolling out the ‘r’ and wiggling his eyebrows.

Keith snorted. “I’m sorry, that was so cheesy.” He let out a breath and introduced himself as Keith, then lowered his gaze to his hands, where he fumbled with the cloth napkin. “I just want to let you know that I don’t usually," he gestured vaguely at the space between them with a hand. "Date. I've always been too busy, but Allura is pretty persistent.” 

 _Oh_. He thought of how Allura had to persuade him to go on this date, and probably moreso with Keith. The word 'reluctant' echoed in his head, and he tried to stifle the disappointment rising in his chest. _He doesn't want to be here_. As selfish as it was, Lance didn't want to end the date. “Um, yeah, Allura mentioned you being accomplished. Does your work make it into a lot of galleries?”

“Sometimes, but most of my artwork goes towards my family’s business.”

“Oh? What’s the business?”

“Just, ceramics. My brother and I make busts, vases, things like that, and we make moulds of the best ones to replicate and sell them.”

The conversation went from there, bursting with stories of their families (Keith questioned him about his farm for a good 10 minutes. “Do you have cows?” “Just one. Her name is Kaltenecker, she’s like a giant, excited dog whenever she sees me.”) Keith never seemed broody, or reluctant, except for his announcement at the beginning that he didn’t really want to be here. Which wasn’t forgotten. The thought of that persisted in Lance’s mind the entire night, so Lance steered away from flirting.

After they paid individually for the meal, they lingered around the front of the restaurant in silence for a brief moment.

“Did you drive here?” Keith asked. '

“No, I came by bus.”

“Did you want a ride?”

Lance looked up at him. He wore a friendly smile. It was cute. He was cute. “No, um, it’s okay man. I’m going to stop by the local library anyways. Thanks though.” Keith nodded silently, bringing them back to the uncomfortable silence. This was the part where Lance usually went in for a hug, or leaned in for a chaste kiss if the date went well enough. Yet, he didn’t find either of those appropriate, regardless of how good the night went. So, he asked, “Do we shake hands?”

“What?”

Lance laughed nervously. “I’m not sure how we’re supposed to part ways. I know you’re not into this,” he gestured to the space between them, and focused his gaze anywhere but Keith’s eyes. “Forced-date thing.”

“Oh,” was all he replied. There was a moment of hesitation before Keith stuck out his hand.

Lance took it, noting how stiff his calloused palms and fingertips were before pulling away and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I’ll see you in class?” Lance asked, as if Keith was going to drop out school as soon as he got back to campus.

Keith nodded, a soft smile on his lips. “I’ll see you.”

 

-

 

Lance let out a long sigh, and leaned into Hunk’s side. “I have class with him tomorrow, do you think it’d be weird for me to show up early?”

“I think it’d be weird if you didn’t. You always arrive early for sculpting.”

Lance buried his face in Hunk’s shoulder and let out a groan. He mumbled, “Yeah, but what if it comes off wrong? Like I’m, I don’t know, pushing for something more? What if I’m annoying him? Shouldn’t I give him space?”

Hunk ran their fingers through Lance’s wavy, freshly washed hair, and made a soothing ‘shh’ sound. “I know you’re nervous, but he doesn’t hate you. He wouldn’t have offered you a ride home, or asked about your family if he did. He’s far from hating you. You don’t have to go to class early if you’re uncomfortable, but he’s important enough to you to worry, and I think it’d be worth it to try and become friends.”

Lance replied with a low, “Yeah,” and left the conversation at that.

Lance didn’t go to class early the next day. Not for the rest of the week either. He generally tried to avoid looking at Keith, but became weak more than a few times. Keith was mostly absorbed in his work; they were making another vase. However, when he looked over to Keith while Coran went off on another painfully long motivational speech, he was already looking at him. Lance turned away pretty suddenly, his face burning up, and hands searching for something to fiddle with. When Lance dared to look over again, Keith was intensely focused on whatever Coran was saying. Must’ve been some speech he was missing.

A few days later, Lance took his vase out of the kiln. It was much larger than last time, as long as his legs, and as heavy as a large dog. He could’ve sworn it was lighter wet than it was now. The miscalculation of weight was what resulted in Lance hauling it over the kiln, and dropping it directly on the cement floor. His precious vase shattered across a 5 foot radius.

“Shit!” Lance exclaimed. He started desperately picking up the scattered pieces. “No no no, this can’t be happening.” He cursed under his breath in Spanish before letting a long groan escape his throat before he sat defeated on the ground, and rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms.

Lance took in a deep breath, and reminded himself that he can still hand something in, albeit late. There was a two week penalty period, where each day late knocked off 1% of the project, but it was enough time to re-sculpt and dry.

Lance let out another exhale, then pulled himself off of the ground to get to work. An unknown amount of hours later, hands, arms, and clothes covered in dust and drying clumps of clay, he finished the shape. Still within the guidelines of the assignment, Lance made this vase smaller, lighter than the previous one. All that was left now was adding details and letting it sit to dry.

Just as he was pulling out the necessary tools for engraving, Keith walked into the classroom with his vase in his arms. His eyes caught onto Lance, and he stumbled for a moment before he gently placed the vase by the wall at the front of the classroom. With low panting, he asked, “What are you doing?”

“I dropped my vase, so…” then lifted his hands holding the tools.

“Do you need help?”

Lance’s heart beat loudly in his chest. He tried his best to ignore it. “No, I’m okay. You need to finish your assignment anyways.”

“My roommate asked to have the room for him and his date tonight, so I’ll be here all night. Painting won’t take me that long anyways.”

“Your roommate kicked you out for the night?” Keith shrugged like it as no big deal. Lance hoped this wasn’t a regular occurrence. “Um, yeah, I’d be eternally grateful if I got some help.” Then he quickly added, “But work on your stuff when you need to! I don’t mind doing this on my own.”

Keith smiled, and dragged over a stool to sit in front of the large vase propped onto a low spinning table. “So what are we doing with this?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking of giving it a Safi feel, but completely engraved, not painted.” He plopped his sketchbook on the table, facing Keith to look at the pattern of curvy fish-like scales filled with dots and simple flowers.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Why not painted?”

“Drying will take too long, so I’m just not going to paint it. Figure the details will go a long way in appearance.” Keith nodded, before picking up one of the tools and getting to work on his side of the vase. “Thank you,” Lance said with a soft smile. Keith stopped to look at him, his gaze lingering before the corner of his lips pulled into a smile too. When he looked down again, his expression went stale.

Keith went over the same spot a few times, peeling off layers of clay after the rough outline on the top was done, before speaking again. “You haven’t been coming early to class lately,” Keith said, it sounded more like a question than a statement. “Is it because of me?”

 _Yes_. “No,” he lied, and flinched when he did so effortlessly. “My friend from home has been staying with me, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with them.” There, now it’s slightly less of a lie.

“Oh, okay. I thought you were mad at me.”

Lance lifted his head up to look at Keith so fast his neck cramped. “What? Why would I be mad at you?” he said a little too loud.

Keith shrugged, still working on his side of the vase. “I don’t know, maybe because I said Allura insisted I go on the date.” He lowered his hand, and his gaze, to start working on a rough outline of the scales at the bottom. “I didn’t mean it like… like I was upset being there or something.”

Lance… didn’t know what to say. Didn’t really know what Keith was saying, either. “I wasn’t ever mad at you. I had a really good time hanging out with you on Friday. I just didn’t want you to think I was trying to become something more.”

“More?”

“More than friends.”

“We’re friends?”

“Well I would hope so. I don’t just tell anyone about my cow,” he smiled with his words.

*

Lance’s assignment was still drying off before being put into the kiln, but everyone else was receiving comments and criticism from Coran.

“My boy,” Coran started, staring at Keith’s glazed, but unpainted vase. He never got around to it because their late night conversation spilled well into the morning. “This is a beautiful piece, but-”

“I know, I didn’t get to finish it.” Keith said low enough that Lance barely caught it. He shouldn’t be eavesdropping anyways, he reminded himself.

Coran sighed, but was gentle with his next words. “Bring it in by the end of the week, and I won’t dock you marks, okay?”

Keith nodded, his eyes flickering to Lance’s. Lance looked away instinctively, trying to pull it off as if he was admiring the vase in front of him, covered in a glossy deep red, and streaks of black that looked like lightning. When Keith sat himself down beside Lance, he just continued to observe the works before him.

Eventually, Lance broke the silence. “I’m not busy tonight, if you want help painting.” He turned to Keith, placing his hands on his own chest to gesture, and a smug smirk on his face. “I’m no Michaelangelo, but I paint well enough.”


	2. Sprouting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance recognizes his feelings for Keith, and so does someone else...

 

Often times when their projects were drying, Keith and Lance wandered to the roof of the Visual Arts building, and laid down to observe the stars. Here, Lance would ramble about the constellations and the galaxy, where Keith would wonder about future discoveries and inventions, or where they would both dive into deeper topics; anything, and everything was for their minds to touch upon.

The late November chill forced them to adapt by bringing blankets and gloves. Lance started bringing hot chocolate in a thermos for them to share.

One day, well past midnight, Keith was going on about his brother Shiro, and how when the two of them where small, they would pretend to be space superheroes who fought in giant magic lions. Lance laughed at the idea, but found it endearing how fond Keith was of the memory.

At the end of the story, they fell into a short, comfortable silence.

“You said you’re majoring in astrophysics, right?” Keith asked.

Lance unscrewed the cap of the thermos to drink from. “Yeah. Why?”

Keith lifted himself to sit upright, and looked at Lance completely serious. “Do you believe in aliens?”

Lance paused, then smirked before taking a mouthful of hot chocolate. “You’re an alien-loving nerd, aren’t you?”

“They’re real, Lance!”

“I never said they weren’t, it’s a big universe out there.”

And just with that, Keith’s eyes began to sparkle. Watching the giddiness bubbling up into his expression, Lance couldn’t help but think, _Shit. I really fucking like him_. The feeling sunk down to his bones, and the urge to hold Keith’s face and kiss every inch of it was overwhelming.

Yet he pulled himself away from the warm feeling in his chest, and spoke lower than before, “As long as none of them abduct Kaltenecker, the aliens are cool with me.”

 

*

 

On the first day of December, Christmas decorations were flung up everywhere. Street lights and railings wrapped in plastic evergreen leaves, ornaments dangling from real trees along main paths, wreaths hanging over some classroom doors, and ‘Santa Baby’ playing for the 4th time today in the campus cafe. It was… shocking, to Lance. His small town certainly celebrated Christmas, and Hanukkah, when the time came, but they were indoor celebrations. So when Allura and Keith found out he’s never seen Christmas celebrated outside of his home...

“We’re going to the mall!” Allura announced, slamming her hands down and standing up with a sparkle in her eye.

“What? Why?”

“Allura, how much room do you have on your camera?” Keith asked, ignoring Lance’s questions.

She shook her head at him from across the table. “Not much, but I’ll make room, just give me 20 minutes to grab it and delete some subpar selfies.”

“Wait? We’re going _now_?”

Allura and Keith both looked to Lance, and blinked. “Yeah? Why not?”

“I dont- what are we going to do at a mall? We’re broke college students.”

“You’ll see,” Keith winked, and promptly shut Lance up. _God, I'm so weak._  

Without further adieu, Allura vanished into the lunch crowd, leaving Keith and Lance alone. Which normally was fine, but Lance was preoccupied with covering his heated face, lest Keith discover  _why_ he was blushing. Luckily, Keith excused himself to go to McDonalds to refill his small cup for the second time since they entered the cafeteria mini-mall at the edge of their campus. Then he went to refill it again. And again. Allura appeared somewhere between the fourth or fifth refill with a Nikon camera strapped around her neck.

She motioned for the two of them to get up and follow her, then proceeded to delete and mourn the amazing selfies lost for this ‘momentous’ occasion as they neared the bus shelter.

“You should’ve backed them up then,” Keith said, sipping on the last of his iced tea.

She glared at him through her soft pink heart-shaped sunglasses. Her look was threatening, but between the sunglasses and cute mushroom studs in her ears, it was drowned out.

“So,” Lance broke the tension with an exaggerated inhale. “Do I get any hints as to what we’re doing today at the mall?”

“Hmm,” Keith hummed, and looked to Allura, who responded by nodding. “Sure.”

“Is it something sparkly?” Lance asked immediately.

“Sorta.”

“Are we going to buy that necklace Allura won’t stop talking about?”

Allura crossed her arms over her chest. “I already bought that necklace. And no, we wouldn’t drag you all the way there just for a purchase.”

“Right, we’re making memories today,” Keith added. “Two more guesses.”

Lance squinted at them suspiciously as they walked onto the bus, and sat in the seats at the very back. Keith sat between Allura and Lance, with his hands wrapped around his empty McDonald’s cup.

“Okay,” Lance dragged out. Since it was clearly Christmas related, and considering Allura brought along her camera, Lance made an educated guess, despite it not corresponding to the answer given in the previous hint. “Taking pictures with the mall Santa? Those are a thing, right?”

“Oh!” Allura brightened, and smacked Keith’s arm playfully. “We should take pictures with Santa!”

Keith groaned loudly and threw his head back. “I don’t want to sit on some random guy’s lap.”

“You had no problem with doing that at parties in high school,” she retorted with smirk on her face.

Keith opted to ignore it, though his face was becoming red. He lifted a hand, sticking up his index finger while saying, “One more guess Lance.”

 _Something kinda sparkly, something kinda sparkly_ he repeated in his head. “Or-Ornaments? A lot of them?”

“Ooh, you sort of got that one!” Allura perked up. “But you’re out of guesses now,” she wore an exaggerated frown. And with all of the grace in the world thrown out the window, she abruptly changed the subject. “Anyways, did you guys hear Lotor got expelled for stealing the exam answers?”

*

Lance was nervous. Of course, being led blindly in a busy mall would lead to the nerves, but his stiff legs and shaky arms were mostly due to Keith following closely behind, with his hands over Lances eyes. For a few minutes, Lance forgot all about the reason he was there in the first place, as all he could think about was to _breathe_ and focus on not falling. At once, Allura squeezed Lance’s hand and dropped it, bringing them all to a stop. Slowly, Keith removed his hands from Lance’s face, and moved to the side to watch Lance’s expression shift from unease to pure awe.

Lance had to let his head fall all the way back to look up at the 300ft Christmas tree. “Woah,” he said lowly. His eyes scanned the tree once more before turning his head to look at Keith.

Keith was already looking at Lance, with a soft smile that squeezed at his heart. It was like his eyes held the universe, the millions of red ornaments and LED lights reflecting in his eyes replacing the stars.

“What do you think Lance?” Allura asked, setting down her camera, and leaning against the railing.

“Beautiful,” was all he could say in a whisper, before he realized what she was asking. He looked back to the tree, and cleared his throat nervously. “It’s amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Come on,” Allura said, grabbing his hand again. “We know a spot where you can see the top of the tree.”

They pushed through the tight crowd until they reached a spiral staircase tucked away between a washroom and a Sephora. They trudged up an endless amount of steps to the top floor where there were no stores, or people for that matter. Although they were at a greater distance from the tree than before, they were aligned with the top of it, staring right at the massive golden star.

After admiring the tree for a bit longer, Lance leaned over the ledge to look at all of the people on the ground floor, who moved around like a colony of ants. Unconsciously, he looked to his side to glance at Keith. “This is so cool!” he said with a wide grin on his face. "How did you guys find this place?"

"There was absolutely no way we wouldn't venture up a hidden staircase in a mall." 

They lingered a while to people watch from above, and to recover from the long ascension. Lance occasionally glanced over to Keith, who was also leaning over the ledge. Just to see the soft smile on his lips grow when he locked eyes with Lance for a brief moment.

When they made it back to the ground floor, Allura and Lance swerved into the line to take pictures with Santa. Despite the heavy protesting and complaints, Keith sat on Santa’s lap while Lance and Allura posed on either side of them like Sailor moon girls. When it was said and done, Allura eagerly grabbed her camera from the tall elf who looked like death, and broke out into laughter.

She shoved the camera into Lance's face, and the two burst out laughing together. They held onto each other to avoid falling over, glancing between Keith's brooding expression in the picture, and the one he had glaring at them in person. He looked like a teenager reluctantly taking family photos during a rebelling phase; arms crossed over his chest, shoulders hunched, and a death stare into the camera.

“I’m going to get food,” Keith grumbled, and headed in the direction of the food court.

“I’ll make copies,” Allura whispered to Lance before following after Keith. Lance followed suit, and quickly realized that it was a terrible idea to split up during a lunch rush.

The entire floor was jam packed with people carrying large bags and squeezing into seats. Belongings were splayed over tables, chairs misplaced, trash and abandoned scarves scattered on the floor. Lines of people stretched out from every fast food counter, and a fight broke out a few tables away from where Lance stood.

“Holy shit,” Lance whispered under his breath. He grabbed onto Allura’s arm, and shot her a worried look.

She shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s the Christmas season.” She pulled out her phone to pull up Keith’s contact with one hand, never letting go of her camera with the other. “Keith,” she whined, dragging out his name into the phone. “Where did you disappear to? I promise I won’t send the photo to everyone this year.” She was leaning into her phone and straining to listen, but then jerked her head in the other direction. “Okay, I see you,” then she hung up. “He’s at McDonald’s.”

Allowing himself to be lead by Allura through the tightly packed crowd, Lance questioned, “Wasn't he there like an hour ago?”

“That boy loves his iced tea.”

Unsurprisingly, Lance found Keith among the horde of people. He could recognize his mullet from space. Keith was leaning against the strip of wall between the soda fountains, drawing in large slurps of his drink. He looked like a child holding the cup between both hands, while his eyes browsed over passerbyers. With a pop of his mouth off of the straw, he pulled the lid off and refilled the cup with his saving grace; iced tea.

Lance audibly snorted at the sight, and thought, “He’s so cute.”

“What?” Allura looked at him with a smug eating grin and glint in her eyes.

“What?” he responded dumbly.

Keith caught sight of them and wavered over, spilling a little bit of the drink before capping it.

“I already know, but don’t worry, I won’t tell,” Allura whispered, then smacked Keith lightly on the back in an effort to startle him. Even though he had looked their way, he jumped at the contact.

*

The three of them traveled the perimeter of the mall, occasionally diving into expensive shops with odd fashion trends, and tried on some especially gay looking clothes. Notably, Keith’s eyes light up like the mall Christmas tree when he saw the rainbow platform shoes by Gucci.

Around dinner time, they grabbed some cheap grub and expensive bubble tea, then made an effort to escape the mall. However, on their way out, Lance spotted kiddie rides sandwiched between kiosks near the south entrance. Lance insisted on riding the Hippo, while Keith insisted on standing by idly, pretending not to be a part of this mess. Not like there were any children around lining up! Nevertheless, Allura joined him, standing up on the tiny train and waving like a Queen.

“I’m gonna,” Keith paused, to point to the right. “Go to the washroom. Be back in a minute.”

Allura huffed. “What do I gotta do to get that weenie to enjoy himself in public?” She sat down on the train, and not even a second later, leaned in towards Lance, wiggling her eyebrows. “Wanna see the pics?”

Lance nodded eagerly, a smile holding back his laughter as he thought of the bitter Keith on the jolly man’s lap. Except, when Allura opened up the camera, that wasn’t the picture he was looking at. Rather, it was Keith and himself in front of the tree.

“You took other pictures? When?” his voice was kinda panicked. He couldn’t remove his eyes from the soft and _loving_ stare he had on Keith. He was so fucking obvious. _I already know_. Of course she did. 

“The shutter is quite loud, Lance. Not like I tried to hide it.” She sighed, then comforted with a softer tone, “Don’t worry, he didn’t notice. He _doesn’t_ notice.”

Though she never clarified, he knew she meant Keith never noticed the fond ass smile on his face. How often did he look at Keith like that?

“I won’t show them to Keith, if you want.”

For a moment, he couldn’t talk, so he just nodded. When he found his voice again, he whispered, “Thank you.”

She sighed again, and tapped his shoulder so Lance would look up at her. “Just… Maybe look at the _other_ faces in the photos before panicking too much, okay?” then handed him the camera.

Lance clutched onto the camera, desperate to delete the evidence. “Other faces?” he repeated. 

He didn’t realize what that meant until later that night, just before his routine hang-out session with Keith on the roof. _Keith’s face_. He had soft eyes too.

 

*

 

They managed to catch the sunset. The air was serene as Keith watched the sun disappear below the horizon. Lance, however, couldn’t focus on anything but Keith. He was searching his face as if it would have his feelings laid out on it for Lance to read. But all his starring got was a, “What?” from Keith.

Lance immediately looked away, feeling the burning blush rise on his cheeks. “Nothing, just your stupid mullet.”

Keith frowned. “Why do you always go for the mullet? What did my hair ever do to you?”

“It offends me personally that it made it into this century.” He paused, and looked to Keith who was glaring at him. “But it looks good on you.”

In an instant, Keith’s eyes went wide, and he turned his head immediately to hide the blush on his face. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

Determined to avoid creepy-staring at Keith again, Lance fell back from his seated position and looked up at the sky. As darkness crept in, a faint star became visible. “Look!” Lance shouted, sitting up and pointing above himself. “The first star of the night!” Keith followed his line of vision, then hummed a response. Lance turned to look at him, giddy and smiling wide. “Make a wish.”

Keith tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “It’s not a shooting star though.”

“I know, but it doesn’t hurt to put your wishes out into the universe.”

The corners of Keith’s mouth curled, and they both remained silent for a moment to wish upon the dull star. Lance sighed, missing the lack of light pollution on his family’s farm.

“So?” Lance dragged out, and nudged Keith with his shoulder. “What’d you wish for?” he asked in singsong.

Keith’s face turned a shade of pink. “What? That’s- it won’t come true if I tell you.”

“Ooh, Keithy wished for something secret. Was it another chance to sit on Santa’s lap?” Keith snorted at that. “I wished for a passing grade on our finals.”

“Our? You wished for me too?”

“Of course! The power of the stars are unmatched, so they can provide a little more luck.”

“Aren’t you Catholic? Isn’t God the most powerful.”

Lance waved a hand to acknowledge the comment.  “If Pidge can believe in the malocchio without threatening God, then I can believe in the stars.”

There was a brief silence between them as they watched more dull stars appear in the sky. “When did you get into astronomy?” Keith asked.

Lance threw himself back as he thought about it. Keith remained sitting, but turned his torso to look at Lance. “When I first saw a solar eclipse, I think. Before then I liked looking at the stars and the moon, but after that, I wanted to know why certain things happened. Then things dove deeper. I thought about becoming an astronaut one day! But I don’t think I could live away from Earth that long. It’d miss my family too much.”

Keith searched his eyes for a moment. “You miss them now?” Keith asked, but it sounded like a statement.

Lance’s voice betrayed him, and it unintentionally came out as a whisper, “I miss them so much.”  _Ugh, I don't want to cry in front of Keith._

"The-" Keith stared at the ground. "The semester ends soon. You'll get to see them during the break." 

"I know, it's just hard."

He spun his whole body to face Lance. “Do you want a hug?”

Lance nodded, and wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist. In the same moment, Keith leaned over him and wrapped his arms around Lance’s shoulders. Lance snuggled his face further in Keith abdomen when Keith's lips ghosted over the top of his head. While enclosed and comforted, things seemed bearable. The sadness weighing in his chest all semester, from the desperation for his Mama's forehead kisses, to the longing for seemingly insignificant things such as delicately picking blueberries with his niblings, it seemed to lighten. The farm was his home, but the comfort of home was also present in Keith's arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Niblings means nieces and nephews, but gender neutral & can be plural (which in this case, it is). 
> 
> I wanted to do so much more with this chapter, but I read it like 50 million times in nearly 2 weeks, and I was tired of seeing it & just wanted to finish it lol  
> Next chapter, we'll be going home for Christmas with Lance! 
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter & the story as a whole so far! I live for comments~

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully it's not too obvious that I've ever been to a sculpting class in my life~
> 
> Leave a comment to let me know what you think about this so far! I'm going to try to make the next chapter longer, and update soon.  
> Update April 28: idk if anyone is keeping up with this fic, but I'm almost finished the next chapter! I should have it posted within the next few days
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @ pinabutterjam !


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